Messenger app gets Split Payments, new voice message controls, Vanish mode

“Friends who are new to payments in Messenger can easily add payment details to send and receive money.”

What you need to know

Messenger is getting some new features.
Meta’s app (formerly Facebook Messenger) now supports Split Payments and voice message controls.
It also now features vanishing messages.

Meta, formerly Facebook, has today announced a slew of new features coming to its Messenger app.

The first is Split Payments in the U.S., available to both iOS and Android users, which will allow group chats to split payments among members, confirming the amount and payment details.

Messenger is also getting new audio features that will let people record messages with new controls to pause, preview, delete, or continue before sending. If you like to talk, you’ll be happy to know messages are now capped at 30 minutes, not one.

Finally, there’s a new Vanish mode:

With Vanish Mode, your messages disappear after they’re seen. And if you can’t find the right words, you can also send disappearing memes, GIFs, stickers or reactions. To turn on Vanish mode, open an existing chat thread on your mobile device and swipe up. Swipe up again, and you’re back to your regular chat.

Meta’s Messenger app is one of its most popular products and one of the best iPhone messaging services available.

Meta recently reported that changes made by Apple to privacy in iOS 14 would cost the company some $10 billion in revenue, causing shares in the company to free fall. In April of 2021 Apple made tracking via an IDFA identifier across apps and services by third-parties an opt-in feature, and CEO Tim Cook says that the company has been a tremendous response from customers.

The changes have wiped some $278 billion from the market value of four social media companies in less than a year since they were introduced.